Antidepressants Blog

Until some time early in this century, pewter was made by mixing tin with lead, the British Medical Journal (291:1701) reports. Although the risk of lead poisoning from old pewter dishes is minimal, pewter tankards, mugs, or cups are much more dangerous because, if used repeatedly, their fluid contents dissolve a lot of lead. Since modern pewter vessels contain no lead, they can be used without risk.

Nonetheless, the Western Journal of Medicine (143:357) reports, modern pottery colored with lead-containing pigments may not be safe, even if the covering glaze appears to be intact, since it often becomes scratched off or cracked. Furthermore, even some glazes contain lead. People who color pottery or paint with lead-containing pigments (such as cinnabar) are also at risk and must wash their hands before touching their mouths or handling food.

Symptoms of lead poisoning from such sources include mood changes, headache, aching of the limbs, constipation, and bouts of colicky abdominal pain. Since lead poisoning is quite common, anyone having these symptoms should ask a doctor to check them over with this cause in mind.

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Symptom: Tiny pink or red eruptions each surrounding a skin pore on the cheeks, neck, shoulders, in skin creases, and in nappy area.

Home care:

Keep the child as cool as possible, preferably in an air-conditioned room.

Cool baths and careful dusting with corn flour or baby powder help relieve discomfort.

If the rash is on the face, rest the child’s lace on an absorbent pad placed in the crib.

Be careful not to overdress the child.

Use prickly heat powders during warm weather.

Precautions:

-    Use powder carefully; if a baby inhales large amounts of powder, lung inflammation can occur.

-    Overdressing a baby is a frequent cause of heat rash; the baby need be dressed no more warmly than you dress yourself.

-    The use of detergents and bleaches on bed linens and clothing may aggravate heat rash.

-    Avoid using bubble baths, water softeners, or oily lotions on a child with heat rash.

Heat rash is a mild skin condition caused by temporary blockage of the sweat gland openings on the skin. Heat rash, also known as prickly heat or miliaria, is the most common of all rashes in children of any age. Almost all babies get heat rash during hot weather. Heat rash can even occur in cold weather if your child is overdressed either during the daytime or nighttime. Fair-skinned children (redheads and blonds) get heat rash more frequently than other children, and they suffer the most from it.

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The Hard-Hat Zone

When Joseph B. Strauss designed and engineered America’s second-largest bridge across the Golden Gate Strait, he was determined that this San Francisco project would be the safest in bridge-construction history. Local safety equipment manufacturer Edward W. Bullard developed the first “hard hat,” workers were fed a special diet to prevent dizziness, and a safety net was suspended below the floor of the bridge from end to end. That net saved a total of 19 men, proving that safety measures worked. Then in 1937, a few months before the bridge was to open, a section of scaffold carrying 12 men fell and ripped through the safety net, killing 10 of them-proving also that construction was, is, and likely always will be inherently dangerous.

Today, falls remain a leading cause of death and disability at construction sites. In one year alone, it’s common to have more than 40,000 disabling falls. When those falls happen from roofs, scaffolding, or other temporary platforms, workers often don’t get back up. Making matters on the construction site even worse are vehicular accidents and electrocutions, which account for almost as many fatalities as falls.

With more than 309 deaths in 1995-or a rate of 39-5 for every 100,000 workers-being a construction laborer ranks as the sixth deadliest occupation in the United States. No doubt, we’re always going to need bridges and buildings, but we need to keep our construction workers safe. Here’s what experts recommend.

Strap on protection. There is no shortage of products on the market to help prevent a construction worker’s fall. “Some fasten the workers to a stable part of the construction site. Some work like a seat belt and ‘catch’ the worker should he suddenly slip.” But according to some safety professionals, many of the daredevils in these fields don’t want to wear them. For example, roofers have actually fought to be exempt from fall-protection regulations because they maintain that the equipment contributes to falls rather than preventing them.

Work along the curve.

“Being new on a job increases your chances for getting hurt”. “The newness of the work, the lighting, and the conditions all put you at risk when you start a job, no matter what your age. It’s best to be aware of that and respect your learning curve.”

White-Collar Woes

If you’re among the legion of button-down desk jockeys or other non-laborers in the workforce, you don’t have to worry much about death by toppling trees or by falling hundreds of feet from scaffolding. Your coworkers are another story. One in three workplaces has been the site of a violent episode. Every day two or three workers are fatally shot at work.

Assaults and violent acts comprise 20 percent of fatal occupational injuries. When they happen at work, your employer takes a certain amount of responsibility for them and they are logged as occupational “intentional deaths” – the safety industry’s word for not being an accident. Right now, getting shot is the biggest risk for some white-collar workers.

Though this occupational risk seems more out of the victim’s control than, say, strapping on a safety belt, that doesn’t mean that you’re helpless from preventing these events from occurring. For example, I can remember back in the 1970s, anybody could just walk into the federal building where I worked. But circumstances have changed. Now we have employee identification and access cards to restrict entrance of potential perpetrators of violent acts in the workplace.

If your workplace seems vulnerable to outside invasion, safety experts suggest that your employer install a security system, especially if your job involves handling money. Employers often take these suggestions seriously.

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RHEUMATIC FEVER

Bursitis

Bursitis is the name given to the situation where an inflammatory condition of the bursae exists. The bursae are’ closed sacs’ which are lined with a special membrane and which facilitate the movement of muscles and tendons over bony surfaces. Housemaid’s knee is possibly one of the most commonly known forms of bursitis but there are others which affect areas such as the elbow or the heel. There are several causes for the various types of bursitis, ranging from too much kneeling in the case of housemaid’s knee, through direct injury and the introduction of organisms in septic bursitis, to abnormal deposition of calcium around the rotator tendons in calcareous tendinitis (bursitis of the shoulder).

Tennis elbow

Tennis Elbow is a condition not truly named because it is not restricted to tennis players. Any occupation which involves frequent and repeated extension of the wrist can bring on this condition. It is, again, an inflammatory condition with associated pain and restriction of flexibility. Whilst the affected region is principally the elbow, the problem can involve the muscles on either side, depending on the cause. For instance, if the condition occurs after playing tennis or squash, the outer side of the elbow would be the region most likely to be affected. If it occurred after, say, golf or cricket, then probably the inner side would take the strain and be the one to be affected.

Psoriatic arthritis

Psoriatic arthritis is a form of the disease in which two conditions exist. The first is psoriasis, which is an inflammatory condition of the skin, and the second has features which are very similar to rheumatoid arthritis. The two conditions are believed to be associated and not merely coincidental. It is also quite probable with psoriatic arthritis that heredity may be a significant feature in its occurrence.

Rheumatic fever

Rheumatic fever is a different kind of disease altogether and we have some knowledge of its causes. This condition may result in an attack on many organs of the body. If the heart is the organ affected, then the results may be fatal. If the particular area attacked by the fever involves connective tissue or an articular function, the arthritic association becomes apparent.

Fortunately with the development of better health and sanitation standards throughout the world the incidence of this disease should decrease. This is because rheumatic fever occurs as the result of infection by bacteria of the type known as the Streptococci. It should be pointed out that not all infections by Streptococci result in rheumatic fever. Only a certain group of these bacteria are effective and even then there may be other factors, besides the presence of these pathogenic organisms, which are necessary for the condition to develop. Although Streptococcal infections can occur even amongst the best regulated populations, the probability of any bacteriological infection is reduced with good hygiene and public health standards.

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Once a diagnosis has been made the gynecologist should mark the size and location of all your implants, cysts, endometriomas and adhesions on a drawing or prepared chart of the reproductive organs. If you have any endometrial implants or cysts located outside the pelvic cavity, such as on the bowel or cervix, the gynecologist will make a note of the location of those implants and cysts somewhere on the chart. Similarly, if any other conditions, such as pelvic inflammatory disease, are found these will also be noted.

Because of the progressive and recurrent nature of endometriosis it is important that an accurate chart of your endometriosis be made at the time of your diagnostic laparoscopy. The chart will provide a record of the initial extent of your endometriosis that can be compared at a later date with the charts made during any subsequent laparoscopics so that an accurate assessment can be made of the progress of your condition.

The information gained from the laparoscopy and the chart is then used to rate the extent and severity of your condition. There are several formal classification systems which have been developed, the most widely known being a system developed by the American Fertility Society. These classification systems generally allocate a certain number of points to each implant or cyst depending on its nature, size and location and the total number of points is then used to classify the severity of the condition.

For example, according to the American Fertility Society’s classification scheme, a woman with a four centimeter endometrioma on one ovary, some adhesions on both ovaries and implants in the Pouch of Douglas would score a total of 30 points (20 + 2 + 2 + 6) which would be defined as moderate endometriosis (16-40 points).

However it appears that few gynecologists in Australia use any of the formal classification systems. Their classification of the disease is usually based on their visual impression gained from the laparoscopy.

The four categories most commonly used to classify endometriosis are minimal, mild, moderate and severe. The terms stage I, stage II, stage III and stage IV are also used occasionally. A brief description and diagram of a typical example of each category is shown in Fig.9 on p.56.

It is important to remember that the classification system only rates the extent and severity of your endometriosis and your classification does not necessarily bear any relationship to the severity of your symptoms. Minimal or mild endometriosis can cause severe symptoms while severe endometriosis can sometimes cause no symptoms.

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Not so long ago, biologists conceived of the brain as a kind of computer, a machine that generates and processes electrical signals. New discoveries forced us to revise that model. We now think of the brain more in terms of a chemical factory. Chemical “messengers” travel across the gap between nerve endings, and when they reach the proper receptors they trigger electrical signals.

Without the presence of a neurotransmitter, an electrical impulse comes to a biological dead end-its message can’t get through. Too much or too little of a given chemical can also affect the rate and the clarity with which the signal is carried. That’s why we speak of chemical imbalance as the cause of a number of mental and physical disorders.

Sitting within the skull, the brain is enmeshed in an intricate network of blood vessels. Before blood can reach the brain, it must pass through a kind of filter known as the blood-brain barrier. This barrier acts, quite literally, as a bodyguard, preventing potentially harmful molecules carried in the blood from gaining access to the brain. For example, the blood-brain barrier will not permit certain drugs to enter the brain and wreak biological havoc.

Blood contains the red cells, which transport vital supplies of oxygen to nourish the brain cells and keep them functioning, and the white cells of the immune system, responsible for protecting the body from invaders. These cells are suspended in plasma, the fluid portion of blood made up of water, minerals, glucose, fats, proteins, and other substances.

The exact composition of plasma is determined in part by the types and amounts of food you eat. Following a meal, the chemical makeup of plasma changes. For example, if you’ve eaten a large steak, the presence of certain amino acids-the building blocks of protein-may increase. When blood containing this particular plasma mix reaches the blood-brain barrier, the different amino acids compete with each other to squeeze through the openings in the filter. Like shoppers clawing their way to reach a K-mart blue light special, only a few can get through.

Different chemical mixtures trigger the manufacture of different neurotransmitters. Let me give you an example. (Bear in mind, however, that not all the facts are in on this intricate process.)

Eating carbohydrates stimulates the pancreas to release insulin, in turn lowering the blood levels of most amino acids. The amino acid tryptophan is unaffected by this process. More tryptophan enters the brain, since there is less competition at the blood-brain barrier from other amino acids. In the next step of the process, tryptophan is converted to a powerful neurotransmitter called serotonin. The higher the tryptophan level, the more serotonin the body can make.

Serotonin circulates in the blood, eventually reaching a certain part of the hypothalamus. When the serotonin level is high enough, it triggers a message that speeds to the other parts of the brain. The message reads something like: “Stop eating carbohydrates now and look for food with other nutrients.” Thus it may be that the specific foods you have already eaten may lead to cravings for other types of foods.

Experiments have shown just how powerful these neurotransmitters can be. For example, animals who normally eat a balanced diet will turn into voracious carbohydrate-cravers, even to the point of endangering their health, if their brains are flooded with certain chemicals that stimulate carbohydrate ingestion.

There are actually three main groups of neurotransmitters involved in the regulation of appetite: the monoamines (of which serotonin is one), the amino acids, and the neuropeptides.

At this point let me introduce the term macronutrients, a word that refers to the major components in food. The three types of macronutrients are carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Each of these supplies a different type of energy to the body. A balanced diet contains a healthy mix of all three macronutrients. As a rule, animals and most humans will seek out foods that, over the course of time (say, a day) will supply the macronutrient blend their bodies need.

Macronutrients affect the production and release of neurotransmitters. As we saw in the above example, carbohydrate consumption may lead to increased serotonin levels. Similarly, sweet or fatty foods lead to production of certain neuropeptides.

Like a biological traffic cop, the hypothalamus directs all this activity, and it’s a particularly busy intersection. Signals coming from the brain affect the diet, while diet in turn affects the signals heading for the brain. Should something go wrong, a neurotransmitter disturbance might trigger an abnormal pattern of eating. This in turn might worsen the already existing neurotransmitter disturbance, causing more abnormal eating, and so on.

Such findings underscore how chemical messengers spark specific behavior. Controlling the balance of these chemicals through medications might ultimately enable us to bring abnormal eating patterns under control.

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Many of us talk about recapturing our youth. Kirie Pedersen actually did it. And it helped her get rid of 40 unwanted pounds.

Kirie, a 48-year-old freelance writer from Brinnon, Washington, prided herself on leading a healthy lifestyle. Her diet consisted primarily of grains and vegetables—little meat, little sugar, no junk food. And she walked for a half-hour to an hour every day.

So when the scale showed that her weight had crept up to 159 pounds, Kirie could come up with only one explanation. “Almost every day for 6 years, my job had me sitting for 8 to 9 hours at a stretch,” she says. “Even though I was eating well and exercising regularly, most of the time I was glued to a chair.”

Kirie became convinced that if she could reclaim some of the nervous energy that she had as a child, she could burn a few more calories over the course of a day. So she found ways to incorporate playful, childlike movements into her life. Every morning, she woke with a big stretch. She swung her arms vigorously when she walked. “I’d act childish in the privacy of my home office,” she says. “I’d set a

timer to go off every hour. That was my cue to get up and move. For 15 minutes, I’d squat, skip, wiggle, dance, whatever I felt like doing.”

One year after she began incorporating childlike movements into her daily routine, Kirie went shopping for clothes with her daughter. “I was comfortable with my wardrobe of baggy clothes, but my daughter persuaded me to try on a pair of jeans, something that I don’t usually wear,” Kirie recalls. “I figured that I’d need a size 12 or 14. My daughter looked at me and said, ‘I don’t think you realize how much weight you’ve lost!’

Her daughter was right. Kirie had taken off 40 pounds—and slimmed down to a size 6—simply by acting like a kid again.

WINNING ACTION

Fidget, stretch, squirm. As it turns out, Kirie is on to something. That something is known as non-exercise thermogenesis, which, in plain English, means that you can burn calories without actually working out. A study at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, found that folks who fidgeted, changed posture, or otherwise moved around a lot during the normal activities of daily living burned many more calories than those who didn’t. As a result, the fidgeters were able to eat more without gaining weight. So go ahead and fidget!

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Unhappiness is often associated with grudges and hatreds. Some of the unhappiest people I’ve ever met have excellent memories. They can tell you every little wrong that someone ever did to them. They remember all the hurts and wounds of life and what somebody said about them 20 or 30 years ago. Some are still mad at people who are long dead. I tell them to forgive and forget. It doesn’t matter what happened to you. Forgive the person, and get those hateful thoughts out of your head. By the way, you don’t have to tell the person you forgive them, and you don’t have to love them. Just let go of the negative thoughts. Here’s what to say:

Beginning right now, I freely and willingly forgive everyone who has ever harmed or slighted me. I happily throw away any grudges and hatreds I may carry. I also forgive myself for all the mistakes I have made. Each day I start anew, at peace with the world and at peace with myself.

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Caution: Check with your physician before beginning this or any other exercise program, and before making major changes in your exercise program.

The exercise program I recommend to my patients is very simple and easy to do. It requires no training or practice. There’s nothing to learn, no special clothes or equipment to purchase, no clubs to join.

It begins with walking.

After carefully examining my patients to make sure they’re able, I tell them to start by setting aside ten minutes every day for a brisk walk. How brisk? As brisk as you can make it: work up to double time.

The initial goal is ten consecutive minutes of brisk walking. How far you go isn’t important. If ten minutes is too difficult at first, walk as much as you comfortably can, rest and then walk a little more at a slower pace.

When you can walk briskly for ten minutes without stopping, start increasing your time. Add two minutes to the ten, then another two and another two, and so on until you reach 24 minutes of nonstop, brisk walking. Add one more minute to make it 25, and you’ve mastered brisk walking. You’re giving your heart, lungs, legs and other parts of your body a real workout, and you’re strengthening your “doctor within.”

How long should it take to go from ten to 25 minutes? That depends on you. You’re not training for the Olympics, and there are no deadlines. Yours is a program of lifelong exercise for the benefit of your “doctor within.” Whether it takes two days or two months of practice to be able to walk 25 minutes nonstop is unimportant.

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“Well, eating Super Foods makes sense to me, but what about vitamins and minerals? Should I take supplements?” Some people claim that we don’t need to take vitamin and mineral supplements if we’re eating a “good” diet that supplies all the RDAs (Recommended Dietary Allowances).

Unfortunately, relatively few of us eat a “good” diet. Studies have shown that most people aren’t taking in all the RDAs. But even consuming all the RDAs won’t guarantee good health. Why? Because the RDAs are set much too low. They’re based on the dangerous either/or approach to health: you’re either sick or you’re healthy. If you don’t have scurvy or another of the classic vitamin-deficiency diseases, then you’re getting all the vitamins you need. As we’ve seen, however, the either/or approach to health is an invitation to trouble.

You don’t wake up one morning to find yourself suddenly suffering from a serious vitamin-deficiency disease. Instead, your nutrient status gradually slips from healthful to terrible, with signs and symptoms sounding warnings at each stage.

Very few of us can boast of having all the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients we need for optimum health. Most of us are lacking in several vitamins and minerals. Our body tries to tell us that something is wrong, but we don’t recognize the signs and symptoms.

I believe that problems related to lack of nutrients are relatively common. But our medical system doesn’t consider nutrient deficiencies to be a problem, not until they produce an obvious disease. Recurrent infections and personality changes, for example, simply do not qualify. So millions of people are left to suffer, wondering why they’re sick or unhappy so often. They don’t know that their problems are related to nutrient deficiencies, but they do know that they don’t feel right.

It’s only when a person has a recognizable disease that doctors begin to pay serious attention. Now the patient has a disease that can be labeled. But which disease? A lack of vitamins and minerals can prompt immune-system malfunctions that can result in any number of diseases, from the mild to the very serious.

A Note on”Diet”

The Super Food diet isn’t the type of diet you go on for two weeks or two months and then stop. It’s not a weight-loss diet that you stop when you’ve lost enough pounds, or a “health” diet you eat until you feel better. The Super Food diet is a blueprint for healthy living. It’s a game plan, a lifelong approach to keeping your “doctor within” hale and hearty. Make the Super Food diet part of your everyday life.

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